This is a list of notable

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

s optimized for

sound production Sound production may refer to: *Audio engineering *Creation of sound through speech, using a musical instrument, etc. *Record production *Sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating auditory elements of media. It involves specifyi ...

algorithmic composition Algorithmic composition is the technique of using algorithms to create music. Algorithms (or, at the very least, formal sets of rules) have been used to compose music for centuries; the procedures used to plot voice-leading in Western counterpo ...

, and

sound synthesis A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

. *

ABC notation ABC notation is a shorthand form of musical notation for computers. In basic form it uses the letter notation with –, –, and , to represent the corresponding notes and rests, along with other elements used to place added value on these – ...

, a language for notating music using the ASCII character set
Bol Processor
a model of

formal grammar A formal grammar is a set of Terminal and nonterminal symbols, symbols and the Production (computer science), production rules for rewriting some of them into every possible string of a formal language over an Alphabet (formal languages), alphabe ...

s enriched with polymetric expressions for the representation of time structures *

ChucK Chuck () is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV produce ...

, strongly timed, concurrent, and on-the-fly audio programming language * Real-time Cmix, a

MUSIC-N MUSIC-N refers to a family of computer music programs and programming languages descended from or influenced by MUSIC, a program written by Max Mathews in 1957 at Bell Labs. MUSIC was the first computer program for generating digital audio wavefor ...

synthesis language somewhat similar to Csound
Cmajor
a high-performance JIT-compiled C-style language for DSP * Common Lisp Music (CLM), a music synthesis and signal processing package in the Music V family *

Csound Csound is a domain-specific computer programming language for audio programming. It is named Csound because it is written in the language C, in contrast to some of its predecessors. It is free and open-source software, released under the GNU Les ...

, a

synthesis language released under the

LGPL The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is a free-software license published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The license allows developers and companies to use and integrate a software component released under the LGPL into their own ...

with many available

unit generator Unit generators (or ''ugens'') are the basic formal units in many MUSIC-N-style computer music programming languages. They are sometimes called opcodes (particularly in Csound), though this expression is not considered accurate in that these are ...

s *

Extempore ''Ex tempore'' (Latin for "out of the moment“) is a law latin legal term that means 'at the time'. A judge who hands down a decision in a case soon or straight after hearing it is delivering a decision ''ex tempore''. Another way a judge may de ...

, a live-coding environment that borrows a core foundation from the

Impromptu An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...

environment *

FAUST Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

, Functional Audio Stream, a functional compiled language for efficient real-time audio signal processing
GLICOL
a graph-oriented live coding language written in Rust * Hierarchical Music Specification Language (HMSL), optimized more for music than synthesis, developed in the 1980s in

Forth Forth or FORTH may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''forth'' magazine, an Internet magazine * ''Forth'' (album), by The Verve, 2008 * ''Forth'', a 2011 album by Proto-Kaw * Radio Forth, a group of independent local radio stations in Scotl ...

, a Scheme language environment for

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

capable of sound and video synthesis, algorithmic composition, and 2D and 3D graphics programming *

Ixi lang Ixi lang is a programming language for live coding musical expression. It is taught at diverse levels of musical education and used in Algorave performances. Like many other live coding languages, such TidalCycles, ixi lang is a domain-specific ...

, a programming language for live coding musical expression. *

JFugue JFugue is an open source programming library that allows one to program music in the Java programming language without the complexities of MIDI. It was first released in 2002 by David Koelle. Version 2 was released under a proprietary license. Ver ...

, a Java and JVM library for programming music that outputs to MIDI and has the ability to convert to formats including ABC Notation, Lilypond, and MusicXML * jMusic * JSyn * Keykit, a programming language and portable graphical environment for MIDI music composition * Kyma (sound design language) *

LilyPond LilyPond is a computer program and file format for music engraving. One of LilyPond's major goals is to produce scores that are engraved with traditional layout rules, reflecting the era when scores were engraved by hand. LilyPond is cross-pla ...

, a computer program and file format for music engraving. *

Max/MSP Max, also known as Max/MSP/Jitter, is a visual programming language for music and multimedia developed and maintained by San Francisco-based software company Cycling '74. Over its more than thirty-year history, it has been used by composers, pe ...

, a proprietary, modular visual programming language aimed at sound synthesis for music
Mercury
a language for live-coding algorithmic music. * Music Macro Language (MML), often used to produce

chiptune Chiptune, also called 8-bit music (although not all chiptune is 8-bit music), is a style of electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video gam ...

music in Japan *

, includes versions I, II, III, IV, IV-B, IV-BF, V, 11, and 360 *

Nyquist Nyquist may refer to: * Nyquist (surname) *Nyquist (horse), winner of the 2016 Kentucky Derby * Nyquist (programming language), computer programming language for sound synthesis and music composition See also *Johnson–Nyquist noise, thermal nois ...

* OpenMusic *

Orca (music programming language) The orca (''Orcinus orca''), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only Extant taxon, extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'', it is recognizable by its Countershading, black-and-white- ...

Pure Data Pure Data (Pd) is a visual programming language developed by Miller Puckette in the 1990s for creating interactive computer music and multimedia works. While Puckette is the main author of the program, Pd is an open-source software, open-source ...

, a modular visual programming language for signal processing aimed at music creation *

Tidal Cycles Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

, a live coding environment for algorithmic patterns, written in Haskell and using Supercollider for synthesis *

Reaktor Reaktor is a graphical modular software music studio developed by Stephan Schmidt and Volker Hinz as founders of Native Instruments (NI). It allows musicians and sound specialists to design and build their own instruments, samplers, effects a ...

Sonic Pi Sonic Pi is a live coding environment based on Ruby, originally designed to support both computing and music lessons in schools, developed by Sam Aaron in the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in collaboration with Raspberry Pi Founda ...

* Structured Audio Orchestra Language (SAOL), part of the MPEG-4 Structured Audio standard *

SuperCollider SuperCollider is an environment and audio programming language released originally in 1996 by James McCartney for real-time audio synthesis and algorithmic composition.J. McCartneySuperCollider: A new real time synthesis language in Proc. Int ...

* SynthEdit, a modular visual programming language for signal processing aimed at creating

audio plug-in An audio plug-in, in computer software, is a Plug-in (computing), plug-in that can add or enhance audio-related functions in a computer program, typically a digital audio workstation. Such functions may include digital signal processing or soun ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

PLUM - Programming Languages Used for Music

Audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of sound ...